at least all that olive oil will keep my coat glossy and flesh supple

WARNING: This is another post with little original writing, consisting mostly of links.

Yesterday, a friend told me she went for lunch with her boss, and he's on this wacky new diet called the Shangri-La diet, invented by this experimental psychologist from Berkeley. I was literally agog at the explanation.

Yep, for everyone who's tired of the low-GI diet, the bacon-and-eggs diet (Atkins), or even the Vodkins diet (invented by my hilarious and lovely former banjo instructor, where every time you reach for a beer, you have a mixed hard alcohol drink instead. Rum and Diet Coke, Rye and Diet Gingerale, and the cornerstone: Vodka Tonic. He lost 20 lbs in one summer.)

Here's the NYTimes article with an explanation of how it works, and a little bit about the dude who invented it.

Here's the link to another blog that describes it well enough that there's no need for me to repeat in as much detail. "The claims are outrageous, the 'plan' is absurd and counter-intuitive..."

SUMMARY: You make sure there's a window between meals of at least two hours, and you drink 1 Tbs of olive oil in the middle of the window. You do this one to three times a day. You do not let anything flavoured in any way to pass your lips during that window (including toothpaste).


What do you think? Is that just the strangest thing you've heard? Drink olive oil between meals!

My BMI is a little on the high end of normal so I'm going to give it a go for a week or so and see what happens as an experiment. (I promise I'll stop if I start feeling cruddy.)

UPDATE: There are TONS of detractors, but no one can tell me olive oil is bad for me.